ware4me
09-18-2007, 06:57 PM
http://www.anizeen.com/images/stories/07y/09/0918marrydaughter.jpgLike most girls her age, 15-year-old Ashlee R. is into sports, clothes and current pop music. She's a typical Midwestern teen—except that she’s looking for a husband. “She tells us none of the boys her own age are interesting to her because they ‘are still little kids’ and she is looking for an adult to start a life with,” say her parents, who’ve enrolled her on a new Web site—MarryOurDaughter.com—where they’ve set the “price” for her hand as $37,500.
Before you get too upset, as you are supposed to, stop: MarryOurDaughter.com isn't real—it’s a hoax. Nonetheless, the site—which claims to be a matching service for followers of "the Biblical tradition" of arranged marriages—has managed to fool a whole lot of people. With profiles of young girls, outrageous testimonials and solicitations for proposals (as well as a sign-up page to have your own daughter listed) MarryOurDaughter.com has received 60 million hits since it launched last week—and, believe it or not, on top of angry letters, thousands of proposals.
It's impossible to know how many of the proposals are real. But sifting through the Gmail account where they've all been directed, it's hard to believe there aren't at least a couple hopeful grooms—or parents of hopeful brides.
The site’s creator, John Ordover, a viral-marketing consultant based in Brooklyn, N.Y., gave NEWSWEEK access to that account, and we sorted through hundreds of e-mails—some outraged, others, well, creepy.
Real or not real, the blogs are buzzing about MarryOurDaughter.com, and everybody seems to have the same question: if it is a hoax, why bother? The care put into the site is clear—it's smart, witty and well-designed.
As it turns out, Ordover’s intentions go deeper than poking fun. He says he was hired by a group of women from a local support group who'd been married out in similar fashions—and wanted to draw attention to a very real problem. More at: MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20781129/site/newsweek/)
Before you get too upset, as you are supposed to, stop: MarryOurDaughter.com isn't real—it’s a hoax. Nonetheless, the site—which claims to be a matching service for followers of "the Biblical tradition" of arranged marriages—has managed to fool a whole lot of people. With profiles of young girls, outrageous testimonials and solicitations for proposals (as well as a sign-up page to have your own daughter listed) MarryOurDaughter.com has received 60 million hits since it launched last week—and, believe it or not, on top of angry letters, thousands of proposals.
It's impossible to know how many of the proposals are real. But sifting through the Gmail account where they've all been directed, it's hard to believe there aren't at least a couple hopeful grooms—or parents of hopeful brides.
The site’s creator, John Ordover, a viral-marketing consultant based in Brooklyn, N.Y., gave NEWSWEEK access to that account, and we sorted through hundreds of e-mails—some outraged, others, well, creepy.
Real or not real, the blogs are buzzing about MarryOurDaughter.com, and everybody seems to have the same question: if it is a hoax, why bother? The care put into the site is clear—it's smart, witty and well-designed.
As it turns out, Ordover’s intentions go deeper than poking fun. He says he was hired by a group of women from a local support group who'd been married out in similar fashions—and wanted to draw attention to a very real problem. More at: MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20781129/site/newsweek/)